Bennett Goes to the Movies

Josh and I took Bennett to the movie theater for the first time last night. We saw Cars 2 in 3D.

Of course, he had to wear his "Woody boots" so he would be a real person.  (That's his new thing.  He's not a real person unless he's wearing his Woody boots.  Which is going to be a problem soon, since they're almost too small for him...  I'm not sure where the "real person" thing came from; I was trying to figure out if he had seen anything Pinocchio-related or something.  Beats me.)

I didn't know it until we got there, but it was in 3D, so we all got some really awesome glasses to wear.

And there's no way in this world we could have gone without the popcorn.  This little boys loves popcorn.  We hadn't even walked into the lobby yet when Bennett said, "What's that good smell to me?  It smells like popcorn!"

He enjoyed the movie for the most part, but we were a little disappointed by the amount of "violence" in it.  I put that in quotation marks, because to me and you it probably wouldn't really be considered violence, but to a 3 1/2 year old, it was pretty mean.  It was basically the Cars version of a James Bond movie.  About 1/3 of the way through it (if that), Bennett asked if we could go home.  We assured him that it would be okay, and we took turns letting him sit in our laps.

It was a fun experience overall.  It was nice to be able to spend some one-on-one (or I guess two-on-one) time with our eldest boy.  :)

Cleanest Windows in Town

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Over the River and Through the Woods

To Grandmother's lakehouse we went!

(Josh's grandmother, that is.)

Yep, it's lake season!  Woo-hoo!  It was last year that I really, really, began to enjoy the lake.  I mean, I've always enjoyed going down there with Josh and his family, but once we had Bennett and he got old enough to really enjoy it, it became so wonderful.  We made several trips down there last year, and I hope we can do the same this year.  Memorial Day weekend has always kind of kicked off the season for us, and it was no different this year.

We go to Jackson Lake, which is about 20 minutes or so from McDonough, where Josh's grandmother lives.  Josh had a meeting at the corporate office on Friday, and the corporate office just so happens to be located in McDonough.  So rather than have Josh drive down to McDonough for his meeting, drive back, pick us up, then drive back down south of McDonough, we decided to go on to his grandmother's house on Thursday night.  She lives in an assisted living facility, so her house is vacant.  It was perfect - Josh could wake up, drive 10 minutes to his meeting, and then drive 20 minutes to the lake once the meeting was over.  Lynn and Steve were coming down Friday morning to pick up me and the boys and take us on to the lake.

We didn't get out of Douglasville until it was almost dark, so it was definitely dark by the time we got to McDonough.  Very, very dark.  It had rained (and actually, hailed at our house) before we left.  Nothing too severe, but there was a small storm that passed through.  Well, anyway, once we reached the square in McDonough, the traffic lights were out.  We continued on towards Nana's, and the streets and houses were unusually dark.  We kind of started going, 'uh-oh.'  Then Josh said, "Ugh.  I just saw someone with a flashlight in that house."  We hoped that maybe Nana's neighborhood would have power, but no such luck.  Darkness.

Long story short, it was dark.  It was hot.  The windows were all nailed shut, so we couldn't even get a breeze (yes, we tried to open them - they weren't budging).  The candles we hunted down made it so that we could see, but they also made it hotter.  We had two boys that were tired and wanted to go to bed.  I take that back.  We had two boys that were tired, but only one of them really wanted to go to bed.  Cannon was hot and tired and cranky.  Bennett was hot and tired, but loving every minute of our "fun" adventure.

We finally just gave up, went to bed, and I woke up COLD.  The power had come back on in the night, and boy, there's nothing wrong with her A/C!

So Josh went to his meeting, and Lynn and Steve showed up to get us.  We first went to visit Nana at the assisted living facility.

She has a drawer full of beads that the children always enjoy playing with.  Lynn started putting some on Bennett, and Cannon wanted in on it.  So, she and Bennett helped him out.

Then, on to the lake.  No big, long story to tell here.  All that needs to be said is that we had a great time, and we have on our hands a little dare-devil that isn't afraid to try anything.  Bennett went from jumping off the side of the dock into someone's arms, to getting a running start off the end of the dock while we all watched from dry ground.  He tubed by himself; didn't even want anyone to come with him the first time, and after watching Josh kneeboard, he said to me, "I want to do that!"  So Josh let him lie down on the kneeboard with him while Steve pulled them.  They rode until Josh's arms gave out.  :)

We're seriously thinking about purchasing some training skis for him.  I think he'd totally do it, and I love that!  I was never that way about trying things, and I have never wanted that to rub off on my boys.  I'm glad to see that, so far, so good.

So without further ado, here is our trip in pictures:

Train in the City Cake

The cake this weekend was for a little boy turning four who, after seeing the US Navy cake I made for his granddad, wanted the same thing except with a train and a city.  So... I guess... not the same thing at all, but you get the idea.  He liked the cake with the airplanes, but he wanted a train on his.  And a city.

His mom brought me the toy train she wanted me to use on it, and I got busy making the city.  I made several gumpaste buildings that were to line the sides of the cake, kind of like the animals on Bennett's first birthday cake.  I decided that there should be a few buildings on top of the cake too, so I made some with longer "tails" that would stick down into the cake.

After the cake was iced, the railroad was in place, and all the lights were on the buildings, I began the placement of the buildings.  I lined the entire front side of the cake with buildings and then placed several down into the cake on the top.  It looked awesome.  I loved it.  I was glad I had decided to do that, rather than just line the sides with buildings.  Here's what it looked like:

But.... after a little while I noticed one of the buildings on top beginning to lean.  And then another.  I wiggled them, and they wiggled.  Much more than I was comfortable with.  So I made up some royal icing and gave each building a nice little foundation that would hopefully "cement" them into place.  In case you don't know what royal icing is, it's basically edible super glue.

So after that, I called it a night and hoped for the best.  I woke up thinking about those buildings and wondering whether or not they were still standing.  Um... not.  I walked into the kitchen and found all but two lying face down on the cake.  It was a sad sight.  But thankfully, I was able to neatly pull them out of the cake, cut the "tails" off, and place them on the sides of the cake like I had originally planned.  A little icing, smoothing and adding a second "grassy knoll" took care of the mess that was left, and all was well.  Not as cool as it had been, but still cool.  And Bennett still came in, saw it on the counter and with lit-up eyes, said, "Oh my GOODNESS!!!"  So I knew it would still be a hit with a four year old and his friends.

Boys Will Be Boys

I went to use the bathroom yesterday and found this:

I really don't know who could have done such a thing, do you?

I found this guy on the couch and asked him about it.

I took him in there and said, "Did you make this mess?"  He said, "No."  (long pause)  "Me and Cannon did!"